Temporal changes in arthropod activity in tropical anthropogenic forests

Abstract

Arthropod communities in the tropics are increasingly impacted by rapid changes in land use. Because species showing distinct seasonal patterns of activity are thought to be at higher risk of climate-related extirpation, global warming is generally considered a lower threat to arthropod biodiversity in the tropics than in temperate regions. To examine changes associated with land use and weather variables in tropical arthropod communities, we deployed Malaise traps at three major anthropogenic forests (secondary reserve forest, oil palm forest, and urban ornamental forest (UOF)) in Peninsular Malaysia and collected arthropods continuously for 12 months. We used metabarcoding protocols to characterize the diversity within weekly samples. We found that changes in the composition of arthropod communities were significantly associated with maximum temperature in all the three forests, but shifts were reversed in the UOF compared with the other forests. This suggests arthropods in forests in Peninsular Malaysia face a double threat: community shifts and biodiversity loss due to exploitation and disturbance of forests which consequently put species at further risk related to global warming. We highlight the positive feedback mechanism of land use and temperature, which pose threats to the arthropod communities and further implicates ecosystem functioning and human well-being. Consequently, conservation and mitigation plans are urgently needed.

Insect diversity in the Saharo-Arabian region: Revealing a little-studied fauna by DNA barcoding

“…As these deployments totaled 93 weeks, trap catches averaged 570 specimens a week. As reported in prior studies [ 19 , 48 , 50 ], Diptera and Hymenoptera dominated the catch. BIN compliant sequences were recovered from 84% of the specimens, a value similar to those reported for specimens from Malaise traps deployed in Canada [ 19 ] and Europe [ 48 ].…”

“…Because it remains critical to extend the DNA barcode reference library through specimen-based analysis [ 59 ], it is important that new sequencing platforms are leading to substantial reductions in analytical costs [ 51 ]. Moreover, once libraries are well parameterized, metabarcoding studies [ 50 , 60 ] will permit detailed tracking of biodiversity trajectories at scales that would otherwise be impossible.…”

Vertebrate diversity revealed by metabarcoding of bulk arthropod samples from tropical forests

“…For this, DNA metabarcoding approaches are the most frequently applied. Metabarcoding of bulk insect samples has, for example, been used to characterize the diversity of insects in montane landscapes in tropical southern China (Zhang et al, 2016), explore the insect diversity in a Saharo-Arabian region with otherwise sparse fauna information (Ashfaq et al, 2018), and monitor temporal changes in arthropod communities in different forest types (Brandon-Mong et al, 2018). Unique identifiers are added to sample amplicons before they are sequenced in parallel on a high-throughput sequencing platform.…”

“…The targeted nature of metabarcoding means that it is a cost-effective and efficient method for identifying the taxonomic contents of hundreds to thousands of samples in parallel (Galan et al, 2018;Taberlet et al, 2012). Metabarcoding of bulk insect samples has, for example, been used to characterize the diversity of insects in montane landscapes in tropical southern China (Zhang et al, 2016), explore the insect diversity in a Saharo-Arabian region with otherwise sparse fauna information (Ashfaq et al, 2018), and monitor temporal changes in arthropod communities in different forest types (Brandon-Mong et al, 2018).…”

DNA-Based Arthropod Diversity Assessment in Amazonian Iron Mine Lands Show Ecological Succession Towards Undisturbed Reference Sites

“…However, the choice of metabarcoding primer set is an important decision, as PCR amplification bias can occur when having mismatches between the primer and the target sequences (Krehenwinkel et al, 2017). Metabarcoding of bulk arthropod samples has been used to quantify the biological impacts of logging and planting oil palm (Edwards et al, 2014); to characterise the diversity of insect samples in montane landscapes in tropical southern China (Zhang et al, 2016); to monitor temporal changes in arthropod communities in different forest types (Brandon-Mong et al, 2018); to measure biodiversity response to subtle differences in forest environmental condition (Barsoum et al, 2019); to follow changes in an invertebrate community in an ecosystem under restoration after sand mining (Fernandes et al, 2019); and to assess reclamation trajectories after mining (Gervan et al, 2020) [i.e., when the area again has a useful function (SER, 2004)]. However, we are far from defining baselines for assessing rehabilitation and from understanding the multiple factors that influence arthropod diversity in post-mining areas under rehabilitation, such as the season in which samples were collected and primer bias.…”